College/Art Rock: Meredith Bragg & the Terminals' Vol. I

Meredith Bragg with his band, the Terminals, on Vol. 1 bring Bragg’s singer/songwriter music out from some indie cavern lit by flickering candles and echoing with the instruments that are lined up against the wall like stalagmites. Each song mainly comes from Bragg’s voice and “wood guitar accompanyment,” but “My Only Enemy” gets its cavernous feel from Brian Minter’s “vibraphonic devices.” Elsewhere, Elizabeth Olson’s cello and Jonathan Roth’s “percussive instruments” are subtle additions which create such an atmosphere that’s it’s hard to consider Bragg among other College/Art Rock singer/songwriters like Cass McCombs or King Creosote. There’s still that same approach of limited use of additional instruments of eclectic means, but maybe closer to Paul Brill, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals work up much more of a full sonic air.

The song that most captures my attention is “Carolina” builds from a lone acoustic guitar as it goes along in a pop rock tune form. Then it pauses, breaks on the words: “Hold your head up, Carolina/You’re not alone anymore.” As the guitar picks up the strumming again, the second verse says, “Just when I thought this moment was winding down/The drums kicked in,” Roth beats out a mellowed dance beat on the skins.

Those lyrics reflect a moment that repeats itself throughout the album—where you think the songs will just wind down into nothing, but the percussion and other instruments come along to take Bragg and the Terminals away from dark, dead-end tunnels. Instead, the mine cars go through these caverns through giant openings, past the whistling workers, towards the gradually growing circle of light at the cave entrance, as the rhythms of the last track, “Shattering,” send us into the bright, fresh air.

Thanks to Meredith Bragg & the Terminals, The Kora Records, and Team Clermont for the review copy.